If you’re doing more cardio but not getting the desired results, vary the types of exercise you do. Cardio torches calories and boosts your cardiovascular system. However, the calories it burns are both from fat and muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn. That’s because muscle tissue requires more calories than fat tissue does. That’s where weightlifting or other strength-building workouts can help. Cardio burns both lean muscle tissue and fat for energy. Strength-building builds muscle tissue. Add strength, flexibility, cardio, and balance training for a complete workout.
Cardio, like running, is beneficial for heart health.
Your heart is a muscle. Like all muscles, it functions better when it’s strong. Cardio builds the heart’s strength. It also burns extra calories, increases oxygen consumption, stimulates circulation, and can lower blood pressure. Cardio also helps regulate blood sugar levels. It makes everyday duties less exhausting. It can make weight loss more difficult and cause you to lose muscle tissue.
Weightlifting and other strength-building exercises provide other benefits.
Once you pass your mid-30s, you start to lose muscle mass. You can prevent that loss by doing strength training. Maintaining muscle mass can help you live independently as you age. It also helps maintain bone density. When strong muscles tug on the bone, the bone uptakes calcium to keep it strong. If the muscles don’t tug on the bone, calcium is leached from the bone. That causes osteoporosis. Doing weight-bearing exercises can help slow and even reverse osteoporosis. They also help you lose weight, increase your metabolism, bring relief from the pain of arthritis, and improve body mechanics.
You need all types of exercise to be fit.
Each type of exercise helps the body. Flexibility training, another type of fitness training, helps protect the muscles from injury. Balance exercises do the same. A well-rounded program not only increases weight loss, but it also maintains a healthier body. You need 48-72 hours of rest after weightlifting or strength-building. Weightlifting causes microtears in the muscles, and they take time to heal. That’s a good time to do cardio and other types of workouts.
- The older you are the more you need strength-building workouts, especially if you’re a female. Don’t worry about bulking up when you’re weightlifting. It takes hours of special training to do that.
- One way to reduce exercise time for both strength-building and cardio is to do a HIIT—high intensity interval training—workout. Doing kettlebell training can also provide all four types of training.
- Regular exercise improves posture and lengthens telomeres that protect the chromosomes. It increases circulation, sends oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to all body parts, and helps you look and feel younger.
- Doing all types of exercise improves cognitive functioning. It helps burn off stress, builds new neural pathways, and improves memory. One type of cardio often overlooked is walking.
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